After capturing fourth place at the U.S. Intercollegiate last week, the California men's golf team has earned one of 18 berths in the NCAA West Regional Tournament, the NCAA announced Tuesday.

The tournament will be played May 20-22 at the Tucson National Golf Resort in Tucson, Ariz., with the top nine teams from the regional advancing to the 1999 NCAA Men's Golf Championship, June 2-5 at the Hazeltine Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

The regional berth is the sixth for Cal since 1990 and fourth in the past five years. The Bears best finish came in 1995 when Cal qualified for the national tournament and ended the year sixth in the country. Last season, the Bears placed fourth at the West Regional in Tempe, Ariz., and 15th at the 1998 NCAA Championship in Albuquerque, N.M.

Cal is one of nine teams from the Pac-10 to earn a spot in the regional this year, joining Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Washington . The other schools vying for the right to advance to reach Hazeltine out of the west are defending champions UNLV, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Fresno State, New Mexico, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Texas-El Paso, and UC Santa Barbara.

Two other regionals - East and Central - will be contested across the country the same weekend, with a total of 30 teams qualifying for the national tournament.

The Bears, who are ranked No. 22 in the nation, have finished in the Top 5 in nine of 12 tournaments this season, including three wins.

Individually, Cal boasts three players with sub-73 stroke averages and three others who shoot better than 74 on average. The Bears are led by 1998 All-American and two-time first team All-Pac-10 selection Dan Arroyo (Senior/Walnut Creek), who is averaging 72.4 strokes per round this season. Han Lee (Junior/Cerritos), a 1999 second team All-Conference choice and Dan Coyle (Senior/Dundalk, Ire.) have been nearly as good, averaging 72.7 and 72.6, respectively.